Harold returns to Neighbours to 'help out a pal'

Harold returns to Neighbours to 'help out a pal' (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Neighbours star Ian Smith has explained his return to the soap, revealing that Harold Bishop turns up to help a friend. The actor, who was last seen as the popular fuddy duddy in 2009, is reprising the role this year. Co-star Ryan Moloney, who plays Toadie, let slip the news in a magazine interview. Ian confirmed the leak to Holy Soap: "Harold is called back to Ramsay Street to help a friend, and of course you all think you know who that friend is, and you're all wrong. "And of course there's human pathos, there's laughs - lots of laughs - [and] a little bit of romance, but I'm not saying who for, because I don't think she/he would like me to let it out. Look, there's a little bit of everything, but the thing is it's all a happy ending and it couldn't be better, and I loved it." He said he expected to be on screen for 'maybe six weeks to a couple of months'. Discussing who he would interact with, Ian said: "Well, there wouldn't be a show if Lou and Harold didn't end up punching up, would there? There'd be no show there! All his favourite friends. And, as Harold does, he ends up being a father figure or a grandfather figure to the youngsters, and a lot of them take him on board as an advisor. "I've been assured that he gets lots of interaction with the younger members of the cast, which I'm very happy about because I love those scenes. They've always worked well, since Kylie's days."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.